BMW may buy Rolls-Royce Silver Seraphs from VW, even after the Munich-based manufacturer takes control of the British marque on January 1. Why? Because the first BMW-built Rolls Royces will not be available until the second half of 2003…
BMW may buy Rolls-Royce Silver Seraphs from VW, even after the Munich-based manufacturer takes control of the British marque on January 1. Why? Because the first BMW-built Rolls Royces will not be available until the second half of 2003…
“We expect demand for the Seraph to trickle away to nothing after our own car comes out, but we may continue to buy them from Volkswagen for as long as our customers demand them,” BMW chairman Joachim Milberg told Automotive News recently.
Although BMW gets rights to the Rolls-Royce name on January 1 next year, under an agreement with VW, its new car is not expected to go into production until the spring or summer of 2003. The V8 sedan, now being developed by BMW engineers in Germany, will be built at Goodwood, England, at a rate of a thousand cars a year.
However, Milberg did not say he had a firm agreement with Volkswagen for future sourcing of existing Rolls-Royce models. VW has said previously that it intends to end production of the Silver Seraph and Corniche at the Rolls plant in Crewe, England, this summer and convert to full Bentley production.
Milberg, who will be succeeded as BMW chairman by Helmut Panke in May, said BMW’s agreement with VW does not permit it to market in advance or otherwise promote its plans for Rolls-Royce until next year. Not surprisingly, Milberg ruled out the possibility of a lower-priced, or budget, Rolls Royce model under BMW’s ownership.
“There will not be a cheaper one,” Milberg said. “The core brand is BMW, topped by the 7-Series and its derivatives. Should there then be a kind of 7-Series from Rolls-Royce? No, there’s no room for a cheap Rolls-Royce,” he added.
